2 days left ..

[ArcticHorse]

I have 2 days left on my Marans incubation. I tried doing a dry hatch on this run as it seemed to be the way to go for this breed. Out of 15, I pulled out 1 dud, wasn’t sure on a couple others as the shells were too dark so I left them in. I had a pretty poor hatch last time, I think the humidity was just too unstable.

I read an article somewhere about drowning during hatching. This person had said they will usually drill a hole on the large end so, in case of emergency, the chick wouldn’t suffocate. I cannot for the life of me find this article again. Sound familiar to anyone or does anyone know the actual process?

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

I'm not sure if this is what you're referring to, but making a safety hole is addressed in Pyxis's guide to assisted hatching. The safety hole is made to try to ensure that the hatchling has access to air after it has internally pipped.

If the humidity is too high during incubation, other problems like the hatchling growing too large to hatch properly or insufficient moisture loss (including drowning) can occur.

This article on incubating dark eggs may helpful. I raise BCM that lay very dark eggs, and always do a dry hatch.

Best wishes for your hatch!

 

[ArcticHorse]

I'm not sure if this us what you're referring to, but making a safety hole is addressed in Pyxis's guide to assisted hatching. The safety hole is made to try to ensure that the hatchling has access to air after it has internally pipped.

If the humidity is too high during incubation, other problems like the hatchling growing too large to hatch properly or insufficient moisture loss (including drowning) can occur.

This article on incubating dark eggs may helpful. I raise BCM that lay very dark eggs, and always do a dry hatch.

Best wishes for your hatch!

Yes - that was exactly the one I was looking for, thank you!

I’ll read up with the other as well as I’d really like to specialize in the breed and could use any extra advice. It sounds like the Marans in general is a little more difficult to hatch? I switched to trying a dry hatch this round, it sounded like this was more of the way to go. I should (hopefully) start seeing some movement today.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

YVW. I don't know that dark Marans eggs are really more difficult to hatch - I'd say they require more specific and consistent incubation conditions. Lighter-shelled eggs tend to be more forgiving of fluctuations in humidity, for example.

IMO, successful incubation is much more likely with good quality eggs from healthy breeding stock (that hopefully haven't been shipping-damaged), reliable incubation equipment including an independent thermometer and hygrometer, and vigilance in monitoring (and adjusting, as needed) the incubation conditions.

 

[ArcticHorse]

YVW. I don't know that dark Marans eggs are really more difficult to hatch - I'd say they require more specific and consistent incubation conditions. Lighter-shelled eggs tend to be more forgiving of fluctuations in humidity, for example.

IMO, successful incubation is much more likely with good quality eggs from healthy breeding stock (that hopefully haven't been shipping-damaged), reliable incubation equipment including an independent thermometer and hygrometer, and vigilance in monitoring (and adjusting, as needed) the incubation conditions.

GTK! All of them (externally) looked good on arrival. I took off of work that day to be sure I could get them unpacked immediately and settled for 24 hours.

I upgraded my incubator this round to the NR 360 and put 2 hygrometers/therms in there and had one sitting in the room as well so hopefully I put more of the odds in my favor. I feel like the temp maybe ran a little on the low side but the humidity was good throughout. Would a lower temp potentially cause a 'late' hatch?

Update: 1 chick hatched out this morning and another has just pipped through the shell layer this morning. The first one if pretty robust and knocking all the other eggs around so hopefully it will motivate the others.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I got some store eggs my last hatch in May, (eggs were from a local farm.) 3 dozen. I put them in a Little Giant air-turner foam incubator, Dry hatch. 18 days later, I moved them to a still air foam incubator (farm innovator), with water in troughs. My hatch was 34/36.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

GTK! All of them (externally) looked good on arrival. I took off of work that day to be sure I could get them unpacked immediately and settled for 24 hours.

I upgraded my incubator this round to the NR 360 and put 2 hygrometers/therms in there and had one sitting in the room as well so hopefully I put more of the odds in my favor. I feel like the temp maybe ran a little on the low side but the humidity was good throughout. Would a lower temp potentially cause a 'late' hatch?

Update: 1 chick hatched out this morning and another has just pipped through the shell layer this morning. The first one if pretty robust and knocking all the other eggs around so hopefully it will motivate the others.

Yep, temps running a bit low could delay hatching. Or not.

Congrats!! How many have hatched now?

 

[ArcticHorse]

Yep, temps running a bit low could delay hatching. Or not.

Congrats!! How many have hatched now?

Only 2 out of 14 so far.

I’ll wait until day 25 before I start doing some investigating. I’m starting to think it might be the eggs. This was the second set I bought from the person and I don’t know how much more or better I could have done on this round.